Which Hand Cleaner is Rightfor Heavy Duty Cleaning Needs?

When Vicki was growing up, a
hand cleaner -- the Lava soap that came in the red
packaging -- was always present at the edge of the bathroom sink so
that family members could wash up after doing really dirty jobs.

Whether the
contaminant was dirt (such as from pulling weeds) or
oil/grease (such as from working on a
vehicle), the soap was always used and it always worked (either just
with water or also with help from a nail brush).

When we
went off to truck
driver training school in the fall of 1992, part of our
training included learning how to pull the handle to release the
locking jaws from around the kingpin. When Vicki reached under the edge
of the trailer to pull the
handle, she thought
for sure she had left enough room between her and the
underside of the trailer.

When she got back into the classroom, one of the
instructors noticed that she had a large splotch of grease on the back
of her winter jacket near one shoulder. Because it was the kind of
grease
smudge that can theoretically ruin clothes forever, Vicki was
distressed because it was her only heavy winter outer garment.

Someone from the
school took her
jacket to remove the grease. When it was returned to her a
fairly short time later, she was amazed that almost all of the grease
had been removed! Mike recalls that the product
that was used to remove the grease was our favorite hand cleaner, Goop.

There are two
versions Goop: the original and "orange." The description of
the former is:

Removes stains from
washable clothing

Can be used for difficult
and stubborn stains
on
shirt collars, blouses, skirts, slacks, vinyl, canvas,
woodwork, rugs, and more

It must be noted that all three products mentioned so
far require washing
with water either during or after use.

Waterless
Cleaners

There are also "waterless" hand cleaners, but if you
have soiled
your hands heavily, you will still need some way of physically removing
the dirt, oil or grease.

Hand
Sanitizers

In case you're not aware of it, hand sanitizers
generally contain a large percentage of alcohol, but are not in and of
themselves considered cleaners. They are certainly not soaps. For
example, Germ-X contains 63% ethyl
alcohol.

Likewise, [Barbara] Almanza
[an associate professor at Purdue University who teaches safe
sanitation practices to workers] recommends that to properly sanitize
the hands, soap and water should
be used. A hand sanitizer can not and should not take the place of
proper cleansing procedures with soap and water.

...while
antibacterial products may seem like a stronger cleaning option, they
are no more effective in cleaning your hands than regular soap and
water.... In fact, the
routine use of antibacterial cleaning products has been seriously
questioned by scientists and studies have shown that triclosan, the
active ingredient in many antibacterial products, may make matters
worse by creating harmful drug-resistant bacteria.

Stick with simple
soap and water....

Money saving tip:
You can save both time and money by using the right cleaner. If you've
ever fought to remove grease (especially fifth wheel grease or axle
grease) from your hands or clothing, you know what we mean.

Before you throw out clothing that is badly
soiled or greasy, try massaging in a little hand cleaner that is
specifically
designed to remove the contaminant and then wash it as you normally
would. You may be pleasantly surprised to
find after washing that the contaminant has either been eliminated or
greatly
reduced in severity. That's one garment you don't
have to
replace!